This article identifies some of the most common reasons that documentation for feature T02.1 - Survey for Thermal Comfort - is marked as pending in preliminary documentation review (WELL Certification) or round 1 (WELL at scale) reviews. This guidance does not include all possible reasons for a pending status, but provides information and context based on common review issues. 

Include survey implementation documentation

The most common reason submissions for T02.1 are marked as pending is that documentation detailing implementation of the survey itself is not included. There are various ways to show that your Thermal Comfort Survey has been implemented, including but not limited to:

• A copy of the survey questions used, or identification of which pre-approved survey was used. (see example in Appendix T1)
• The date(s) the survey was distributed. For initial certification, only the results from the first survey are required. For recertification, the median value of occupant satisfaction from the previous six surveys is used.
• The aggregated survey results. See example in Appendix T1. 

Regardless of how you provide documentation, third party reviewers must be able to verify that your project’s Survey for Thermal Comfort is actually being administered, and that you have results of at least one survey ready.

Meet survey response requirements

Documentation is also commonly marked as pending because it is unclear if the minimum number of responses were collected - make sure to note the number of regular occupants in the space and how many people responded to the survey. This needs to align with the requirements in the following table from the feature. You can also use this calculator to check if your results meet feature requirements.

Demonstrate all regular occupants were invited to participate anonymously 

Documentation needs to state that all regular occupants were invited to participate in the survey, and that the survey is anonymous.

Include dates for survey distribution 

Feature T02.1 requires that “A post-occupancy survey is administered at least twice a year, including once in June, July or August and once in December, January or February. For buildings located in tropical regions, the survey may be administered twice a year, at least four months apart. Survey is administered at least six months after occupancy..:”

Feature documentation must include when the survey will continue to be distributed each year, meeting the requirements above. For example: ‘The survey will be distributed in January and in July each year to all building occupants. The first survey was distributed in January 2025, which was more than six months after initial building occupancy.’ 

Correctly document results and satisfaction thresholds

Feature T02.1 part c describes two tiers of target satisfaction thresholds:

To make sure your documentation is approved, ensure that you meet your targeted thermal comfort satisfaction threshold  by including aggregated survey results and a clear distribution of responses. As indicated in Appendix T1, occupants voting for “Neutral,” “Slightly Satisfied,” “Satisfied,” and “Very Satisfied” should be categorized as within the ‘thermal comfort satisfaction threshold.’